Bird Conservation Not Going So Well

Letter to the Editor

As a longtime birdwatcher, the Oct. 8 symposium at Yale commemorating the 100th anniversary of the extinction of the American passenger pigeon [Oct. 8, editorial, “Remembering Martha At Yale”] sadly reminds us all of today’s struggles with bird conservation in Connecticut.

In a few years, Connecticut will lose two endangered nesting grassland birds, the upland sandpiper and the grasshopper sparrow. Habitat loss due to commercial development and the mismanagement of both species is to blame.

In the 100 years since the extinction of the passenger pigeon, have we sufficiently maintained our native bird populations? Apparently not.